Northwest Notebook. Yesterday.

Marengo Man Finds A Honey Of A Specialty

July 13, 1997|By Larry Mayer. Special to the Tribune.

One of Marengo's pioneer physicians earned international acclaim, but Charles C. Miller's fame had nothing to do with medicine. Miller (1831-1920) abandoned his medical practice during the Civil War and became a world-renowned bee and honey specialist who authored such books as "A Year Among the Bees" and "Fifty Years Among the Bees."

Miller is credited with inventing cage and bee feeders. His writings on the keeping of bees and the producing of honey were translated into six languages.

At one time, Miller boasted more than 400 bee colonies. In 1913, he was credited with having the world's greatest comb honey record, with 72 colonies of bees averaging 225 pounds of honey per colony.

A Phi Beta Kappa and a graduate of Union College in Schenectady, N.Y., Miller, a Pennsylvania native, moved to Marengo to practice medicine in 1856. He started keeping bees at his home at 6207 S. Route 23 in 1861. By 1878, it became his sole business.

Miller also was employed as a music instructor in the old Marengo College Institute and served as principal of the public schools in Marengo for three years. An accomplished musician, he gave piano lessons, conducted a singing school and performed in church-related productions.

The doctor's legacy lives on at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, where a library of beekeeping literature is named in his honor.